Pear hazelnut cake

This recipe is:

Dense with nutritious hazelnuts and sweetened naturally with pears, this delicious cake is free of both gluten and refined sugars, which makes it a wonderfully guilt-free treat for morning or afternoon tea any day of the week.

Ingredients

4 eggs (separated)

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp gluten-free baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup hazelnut meal

2 pears (peeled)

1/2 cup hazelnuts (chopped)

Method

1

Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease and line a 20cm spring form cake tin. Beat together egg yolks and coconut sugar until pale. Add vanilla, baking powder and salt, and beat to combine. Fold through hazelnut meal.

2

In a clean bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form.

3

Fold egg whites gently through hazelnut mixture until just combined.

4

Spoon batter into prepared cake tin and smooth the top. Slice pears and arrange on top. Sprinkle over chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 35-40 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow cake to cool in pan.

Notes

Coconut sugar, not to be confused with palm sugar, is a natural unrefined sweetener available from the health food section of most supermarkets.

You can make your own hazelnut meal by blitzing whole hazelnuts in a food processor or Thermomix until finely ground.

If pears are unripe or very firm, poach them briefly in boiling water until tender. You could also use tinned pears but bear in mind these will be sweetened.

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